San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-09-17
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER, II, 1887.
THE BLUE AND THE GuAY.

THE BLUE AND THE GUAY.
That the trouble between Cleveland
and the Grand Army OF the Republic Is
not sectional hate on the part of the
comrades of the Grand Army, Is abund-
antly proved by the ever growing spirit
of oordiality and real determination be-
tween the "Blue and the Gray" Every
where has this spirit been manifested,
and everywhere have the soldiers of the
Grand Army cordially met and recOg-
nized the valOr, the devotion to their
ideas of right, and the military records
OF their late enemies on the field of
blood. 1t is no envy OF that record, nor
Is it any feeling of bitterness toward the
late Confederate soldiers that moves the
Grand Army to such acts as were called
forth at Wheeling. 1t Is that spirit OF
contempt for the services Of the Union
veterans, that mistaken idea Of comfy
and amity which would belittle the
great struggle for national supremacy
and bury its defenders in fOrgetiulness
in order to Danish the memories of its
bitterness, it is this feeling which has
aroused the slumbering lion in the
breasts OF 100000 loyal men all over the
north and all over the south and made
them feel once more as in the presence OF
a mortal foe. Not the old enemy which
met them at Vioksburg and Fredricks-
burg, and Gettysburg and Atlanta and
on q thousand fields OF blood. That
enemy is no longer in arms The SCARF
ed veterans on both sides are found
dreaming of the old glory, side by side,
in camp and bivOual. Between them no
bitterness remains. The enemies now
confronting the Grand Army are those
who were too cowardly to fight during
the late struggle, were everlastingly ar
rayed against the unfolding of the
national fsg,end in the copperhead press
OF the north and on the floor Of national
and state legislatures opposed the pros
ecution of the war for the preservation
OF the union. These are the men who,
having come Into power bearing the
old hate to all that contributed to make
this nations glory In the dark days Of
ls6l-65 now vent their spleen on the de-
Tenders Of the flag, on the saviors Of the
nation, and insist that every memento
and token OF that late struggle to save
nations name and hide a nations shame
shall be buried in fergetfulness. And
because the veterans OF the old flag will
not submit to the demand, will not
write their patriotism down as an ac-
cursed thing, will not consent to see
their suffering comrades deprived Of
their pension rights st the hands Of the
nation they have saved, because Of this
they are deemed aooursed, and
formenters Of disturbances, ana their
army posts volcanoes of sectional hate.
This is all wrong. The loyal legIons In
blue know but one law, loyalty;
recognize but one allegiance, allegiance
to the spirit Of 76-S3-of 6l-65; call no
man enemy but the craven ones who
would forget the sacrifices OF the sons
and count them of less worth to this re-
public than the sacrifices OF the sires.
There is not grand army post on this
side the eternal camping ground, that
will not cordially welcome to its
camp fires any boy In gray, and gladly
accord him the post of honor due his
gallantry and his soldierly record; live
again with him the old days when the
crimson stains that died q nation red
flowed from wounds on either sides, and
rejoice in all the manhood 1t evoked.
But the "boys In blue" believe that pa
patriotism to the country, loyalty to
national authority and existence, a sac
rifice that gave all to secure these, was
not, is not, and never will be a mean
ingless, a despised, or a dIsgraceful
thing. and believing this, as long as
memory holds her seat, they will an
tagonize in high places and in low
places all that attempts to set the seal
OF oblivion or Of infamy upon their ser
vice and their records as citizen soldiers.